PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
	Tel +613 9589 1802	Tel +61429176725	18 Anita Street	BEAUMARIS VIC 3193
		ggd@netspace.net.au	www.prsa .org.au	15th December 2008

The Hare-Clark System of Proportional Representation
	Hare-Clark electoral system as described by Tasmania's Parliament, and by the Electoral Commissions of  Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory
	Hare-Clark is a Quota-Preferential (or Single Transferable Vote) PR system that, unlike other PR systems, enables the vital principle of DIRECT ELECTION of representatives to operate. PR should be used to fill an ODD - not an even number of places - to ensure majorities prevail.
	Robson Rotation governs the printing of candidates' names on the ballot-paper so that no candidate has more or less chance of appearing in a more prominent position on the ballot-paper than any other candidate, thus neutralizing the "donkey vote", and rendering "how-to-vote" cards unnecessary.
	Optional marking of preferences has always applied in the Hare-Clark system for those preferences beyond the number of positions to be filled, but the Senate PR system, without any good public interest reason, controversially requires many more preferences to be marked for a valid vote.
	The Droop quota, rather than the Hare quota originally put forward by Thomas Hare, is used in the Hare-Clark electoral system, as is the case in virtually all modern quota-preferential proportional representation systems, because it avoids some of the practical disadvantages of the Hare quota.
	Gregory fractional transfer is the system of transferring surplus votes by examining all relevant papers prescribed, and transferring a fractional part of their vote value to the candidate indicated as the next available preference. It is named after its original proponent in the 19th Century, J.B.Gregory, of Melbourne. It has always been part of the Hare-Clark system. A good account of it is shown in Paragraph 20 of the official report of Tasmania’s first state-wide Hare-Clark election in 1909. Until its replacement by the Gregory fractional transfer in 1984, Senate PR used an inferior random sampling system that is still used in New South Wales local government polls.
	Countback is the system that ensures, unlike the undemocratic system of replacement of directly elected senators by party appointees, that the people that fill casual vacancies under the Hare-Clark system are directly elected by the voters. It has been part of the Hare-Clark system since 1918.
	Further information on Hare-Clark is in the Tasmanian Section of A Brief History of the PRSA and its Purpose. Click here for HOME.